Gone
by Mayofish
Summary: Because even the strongest of Paladins die and even the weakest of Death Knights cannot.


_When enemies are at your door__, __I'll carry you away from war__  
><em>_If you need help, if you need help.__  
><em>_Your hope dangling by a string__, __I'll share in your suffering__  
><em>_To make you well, to make you well.__  
><em>_Give me reasons to believe__that you would do the same for me.__  
><em>_And I would do it for you, for you.__  
><em>_Baby, I'm not moving on__  
><em>_**I love you long after you're gone**_

_-Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips_

Because even the strongest of Paladins die and even the weakest of Death Knights cannot.

Its spring in Darnassus and the wind is warm. It makes Chichu miss the cold winds of Icecrown.

The Death Knight has not changed except her shoulders and ears slump and her eyes have lost their shine. She stares straight ahead and to her side is Ottari, sobbing and blubbering. Gao is holding her hand and he, too, is staring straight ahead.

"_Chichu? What are you doing here?" There's a clear sound of shock in Ottari's voice. She's older, more mature and it hurts the night elf. Ottari has grown into her height and filled out — she looks so much like Oene, worn and hardened by war and work in the fields of Pandaria._

_There is a pause and the two don't know each other that well, but Ottari knew the Death Knight's name. And she knew that she would not travel all the way to the couples' small farm in Pandaria without Oene because although their relationship was a kind of inaudible topic, Ottari knew they were close. _

"_Where is Oene?" It is Gao who asks the question for Ottari. His fur is starting to grey and age has not been as kind to him. But he has put down his daggers and hung up his Shado-Pan uniform. They are tilling fields now and building a nursery for an orphaned pandaren cub._

_Chichu falls to her knees and pounds her fists against the ground. She couldn't save Oene._

The sound of footsteps is the only sound in Darnassus and it is then that the paladins of the Argent Dawn march forward, a casket between them. They have not seen war in many years and isn't it beautiful to have died in a time of peace?

The casket is ornate, made of white and gold and baring the markings of a powerful paladin. Yet, it is clearly draenei in origin.

"_I love you, Chichu, never forget that."_

"_Are you sick?"_

"_I just need to sleep, okay? Be strong for me, Chi," her hand is frail but she touches the night elf's face and meets her eyes — they haven't changed after all these years. _

_They had faced so much and they had done it together. They had seen the rise and fall of many villains and monsters and they had fought them all. They had saved the world on more than one occasion but there was one thing Oene could not defeat, not even with Chichu's help and that was age._

Chichu closes her eyes and they lower the casket into the earth. She holds her breath.

It's a hero's burial because Oene was a hero. There are draenei and Death Knights -_(just Death Knights, no longer the Ebon Blade)_ and the Argent Dawn _(-no longer spilt as the Dawn and the Crusade, simply the Whole Dawn once again)_. Even old King Anduin speaks a few words for the fallen paladin.

_When the first signs of peace begin to show, Oene and Chichu settle in Darnassus. It is here that the Argent Dawn had made home and it is here that they return. Being around other night elves and hearing her native tongue spoken causes violent nightmares for Chichu and within the first week of being in the City, she breaks. _

_It's a bloodlust that is not uncommon to the Death Knight and a type of madness Oene is used to easing. But this is within a heavily populated area and when she lashes out, Oene grabs her. _

"_Chi, it's okay, Chi," she whispers and maybe the change was too much for the Death Knight._

_Chichu lashes out, scared and confused and she hurts Oene that day. Chichu hates herself for it. When she hears the paladin hiss in pain she comes to, staring at the only one who she has ever loved. She hurt her. Chichu runs, ashamed of herself. Oene is left alone to tend to her wound but it leaves a sickness in her bones that she can never cure._

_It is an Archdruid that finds Chichu hiding in the woods. She appears more bear than night elf now and she touches the death knight softly. She had been watching Chichu since she arrived. The Archdruid likes Chichu because she misses the immortally that as a death knight she still possesses._

"_You shouldn't worry so much, young one. You are the last of the immortals this world has, and for that, you cannot waste a single moment. Each is fleeting."_

_Chichu never once forgot those words. _

It is strange to have a Hero's farewell when the cause of death was simply old age, especially for such a long lived species like the draenei, but it was then that they all realize just how old she was. She had seen more than any of them can ever imagine. And just how many planets had she visited while running? And how far had she ran? She fought and she won.

Oene was a hero.

Chichu excuses herself, not being able to stand the crowd any longer.

Chichu is pulled from her thoughts at the sound of squealing children. She turns her head in time to see a pandaren cub weave between her legs. The cub's adopted mother grabs her hand and mumbles in Pandaren — a tongue she worked so hard to learn.

"Sorry," Ottari smiles sadly and she's even older and it still hurts. "Yuu is a handful at this age."

Gao is standing in the distance and his fur is grey and soon Ottari will feel the pain too because she is so much younger than him and Draenei live for much too long. There is an awkward silence and Chichu turns back to the tombstone in front of her. Ottari notices the fresh flowers and it's been years without her, but the Death Knight has been strong.

"You are so brave, Chichu," Ottari says and, finally, Chichu cries.


End file.
